African Centre For Biodiversity

ACB works in civil society networks in Africa and globally to resist the pressures being placed on Africa to adopt commercial GM crops, and more recently second generation GM technologies. ACB provides legal, scientific and policy support to network partners on the continent, to build public awareness and the capacity to respond to and stave off, the uptake and/or further expansion of GM technologies on the continent including the second generation GM technologies. ACB also does research, policy analysis and advocacy to transform seed policies, laws, regulations and programmes to protect, support and strengthen farmer-managed seed systems in Africa. This requires inhibiting the encroachment of corporate laws and policies into African seed systems, while identifying and working to realise transitions to agro-ecological farming, with farmer seed systems being at the centre. We do this through multi stakeholder partnerships with farmer associations, civil society support organisations, and public sector wherever possible. ACB views current laws governing seed and plant variety protection (PVP) and intellectual property (IP) laws as a threat to the livelihoods of farmer households, and to biodiversity and ecological sustainability. ACB has played a key role in mobilising resistance by African civil society in national, regional, continental and global policy spaces to harmonised seed and PVP laws, which favour corporate interests and pose a direct threat to farmers’ rights to save, reuse, enhance, exchange and sell seed.